The International Space Station (ISS) is scheduled to be de-orbited in 2031 after operating since 1998. SpaceX has been awarded the contract to build the United States Deorbit Vehicle (USDV) that will be used to push the ISS out of orbit and crash at Point Nemo.
This week NASA revealed the plan of how the orbiting process will be done. First of all the USDV is just a modified SpaceX Dragon capsule with more fuel and higher thrust. NASA will dock the USDV 18 months before the launch. The ISS will then be lowered from its original orbit of 400 km from the Earth's surface in stages until 2031.
The USDV also has a secondary function of keeping the ISS longer in orbit if NASA and allies fail to build a new space station as previously planned. Russia has already said it will no longer be involved with NASA and will build its own space station starting in 2027.
In the final stage, the USDV will give the final push for the ISS to return to Earth and disintegrate due to air resistance. NASA and its ISS program partners will only bring home a portion of the ISS components as a memorial to future generations. But like Skylab, most of the ISS components will be left to burn up.
The USDV had to be developed by NASA and SpaceX because according to the original plan, the Russian-made Progress spacecraft was supposed to perform the final push to the ISS. With NASA and Roscosmos' relationship strained after the conflict in Ukraine, a new plan had to be drawn up.